Why Joi From Blade Runner 2049 Looks So Familiar

Since landing the role of Joi in the highly anticipated Blade Runner sequel Blade Runner 2049, actress Ana de Armas has shot into the spotlight—leaving many sci-fi fans wondering where they've seen her before. Since her career in English-language cinema only dates back to 2014, de Armas-spotting opportunities have been limited. Nevertheless, the actress has used the last few years to her advantage, and has quickly turned into one of Hollywood's hottest rising stars. We dug deeper into Ana de Armas' mysterious role as Joi in Blade Runner 2049 and rounded up all the young actress's past acting credits that helped her land the coveted role in this blockbuster sequel. 

Before we get into the movies you may have seen her in before, let's take a look at her current role—and what Joi means in the Blade Runner universe. Major spoilers ahead.

When we're first introduced to Joi in K's apartment, her hologram can only go as far as a rail installed on the ceiling. It works if you're in, say, the living room or the kitchen, but it's pretty limiting, considering this is K's digital girlfriend. So early in the movie, K brings Joi a birthday present—a little handheld device that lets her go anywhere he goes. That device ends up playing a big part in the film's later events.

Most importantly in a thematic sense, Joi represents K's connection to a sort of humanity. As a replicant, he isn't designed to form emotional bonds, and yet the highlight of his day seems to be coming home to Joi. That's when K gives the sense that he's happiest and most comfortable, even if those ideas are little more than artificial constructs for a robot. In this simple love story between a replicant and a computer program, you see first the seeds, and then the reality, of how much K really is able to change, despite being a so-called "fail-safe" replicant who's unable to buck the rules of his programming.

Because all that was already established, director Denis Villeneuve's intentional misdirection about K's origins later in the film made his decision to help Deckard find his daughter even more powerful. He doesn't move forward as a character because he was born special; he does it based on his own experiences. Having lost Joi himself, he's emotionally closer to Deckard's own desire to find his lost daughter.

Now that we've established Joi's place on the Blade Runner canvas, let's take a look at Ana de Armas' career leading up to Blade Runner 2049, starting with some of her more widely seen previous projects.

After ruining Keanu Reeves' life in 2015's Knock Knock, Ana de Armas again teamed up with the soft-spoken actor in Gee Malik Linton's thriller Exposed. This time, however, she didn't merely have fun making Reeves feel uncomfortable on and off camera. Instead, she learned more about the trade from the accomplished actor. "Keanu's a great partner, a great actor, a great producer in this case, and a great friend," she told TV Daily
. "It's always very easy to be with him on set; he always wants your work to be better."

Reeves also didn't hold back from heaping praise on his co-star. "When we approached Ana with the script I was like, please say yes," he recalled. "It's a great role and she's remarkable. I only have one scene with her at the end of the picture, which was great, but I wish we'd had more. In the story she's bringing such emotion, depth, comedy, warmth, love, energy and tragedy. It's such a great role and Ana is the actress for it, because she can produce all those colors and bring that to the screen."

Ana de Armas' big 2016 wrapped up with a supporting role in Todd Phillips' biographical black dramedy War Dogs, in which Jonah Hill and Miles Teller get caught up in some super shady arms dealing while exploiting a government initiative allowing small businesses to win U.S. military contracts during the Iraq War.

Though de Armas wanted to be a part of the film for multiple reasons, she mostly wanted to work with War Dogs' director. "Todd is very smart and what I find so remarkable about him is his ability to put movies together that connect so well with audiences," she remarked. "On the set, he knows what he wants and when you feel that confidence in your director, who is the person telling you what he's looking for, it's amazing. He spends time with you rehearsing, so when you hear 'Action,' you know what to do. And then you have the freedom to play around because you have the foundation of the scene."

Critics are a bit less praiseworthy of the director, however, crediting him with more misses than hits.

Now that we've explored some of Ana de Armas' most widely seen work, let's take a closer look at how exactly she went from a teen actress in Cuba to one of Hollywood's hottest rising stars.

Born and raised in Cuba, de Armas studied at the country's National School of Arts. It was there that Spanish director and screenwriter Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón discovered the 16-year-old, selecting the teen for her very first role in Una rosa de Francia.

"I am in debt to Una rosa de Francia, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón, Jorge Perugorría, Tamara Morales, and everyone involved in that project," she told OnCuba
, "for being able to discover so freely and so passionately what it means to act in [a] film. That movie taught me all the rules of a film shoot: discipline, study, late nights, respect for all team members, and above all, to realize how lucky we are to do what we love and make a living from it."

Landing a big-time gig in a Spanish film as a teenager in Cuba truly changed de Armas' life. "When you experience that at the age of 16," she explained, "it can scare you or it can fill you with courage and hunger for more. And I wanted to eat up the world. Moreover, it really opened the door for me to the Spanish market, which later took me in and gave me work for many years."

Though she ardently studied acting, Ana de Armas never actually finished her drama school education. Instead, she decided to take advantage of her dual passport by moving to Spain, albeit with only 200 euros in her pocket. "I went to Spain when I finished drama school," she told OnCuba
. "Well, technically I didn't finish school; I had to leave before I presented my final thesis. I was 18 years old and I felt like the time was right to move on. My parents supported me in everything, they always have."

Her life-changing decision to move across the Atlantic Ocean was made purely on instinct—a trend de Armas has successfully followed throughout her young career. "I don't remember having thought it over much," she explained, "partly because I didn't know what it meant to live and survive in another country, and partly because I almost never question my instinct. I went with 200 euros in my pocket that I'd saved from the last film that I made in Cuba, El edén perdido, and I told my parents that I'd be back when my money ran out."

As one might expect, 200 euros didn't last long. "My money ran out in a week," de Armas admitted, "[but] I didn't go back." And good thing—she met the casting director for El Internado after only two weeks in Madrid, which would mark the moment that truly launched her career.

Before Ana de Armas burst into the global mainstream by landing herself the role of Joi in Blade Runner 2049, the Cuban actress was a star of Spanish-language cinema and TV. If you'd like to test your Spanish comprehension, you can check her out as Marie in Una rosa de Francia, Stella Maris in Madrigal, Carola in Mentiras y gordas, Rosa in El callejón, and Sol in Por un puñado de besos. Perhaps more notably, she starred as Carolina Leal Solís in the extremely popular Spanish television series El internado, as well as playing Nerea in Hispania, la leyenda. Her last big-time Spanish project came in the form of Antonio Trashorras' freaky film Anabel—which does artistic horror in ways only Spanish cinema can.

After gaining traction in Spanish-language series and movies, de Armas made the transition into English-language cinema. In order to do that, however, she first had to learn English...and fast. In fact, she told AOL Build that she didn't speak any English when she moved to Los Angeles in 2014—remarkable, given the cinematic track record that would immediately follow.

When Ana de Armas made the move from Madrid to Hollywood, she didn't speak any English... but she refused to let that stop her from landing English-language roles in no time at all. Still, the actress speaks English with a strong Cuban accent. And while an accent can sometimes work in an actress' benefit, she won't let her distinct accent pigeonhole her into "sexy Latina" roles.

"When I went to Spain and began working on El Internado, I had the great fortune that all of the series' producers were in agreement with my accent," she explained to OnCuba
. "Now with English, it's a different story; it's not just the accent—it's the language. So in this case, I am working on it. I don't want to limit myself to Latina characters, I want to have a much broader range."

As has been the case with almost everything in her career, de Armas looks at the language barrier as an opportunity to grow as an actress: "It will take time, but I'm not experiencing that as something negative; on the contrary, I view it as if I were learning how to use a new superpower. If I've come to the place where there's access to the best projects in the world, it's not going to be my accent that stops me."

In addition to her willingness to take risks and accept career obstacles as positive challenges, de Armas' success can also be attributed to her mature stance on fame. "Fame and success are never a constant," she explained to OnCuba
, "just like the people who want to be around you or disappear according to their convenience. I've always been very clear on that, and I've always given it the right amount of importance."

Growing up in Cuba has helped de Armas stay grounded. "I think that the early years of my career were the ones with the most change," she said, "and the most critical in terms of the impact of fame on my personal life. But the fact that I always stayed connected with my parents and friends and the many visits I've made to Cuba have kept me close to reality. My family is what makes me think every day about what's really important in my life."

Still, as de Armas has recently learned, there's no escaping being a celebrity: "My life hasn't changed much, although at times it is hard to ignore it when people look at you or follow you in the street; I try to stick to my routine and to my world. Now in the United States ... I'm invisible again ... I imagine it won't stay that way forever. When things change, we'll see what happens, but now I know what to expect, so there's no way it will be too much for me."